“All we want is fair play” - Mayo pyrite protestors tell government

Anger and frustration over houses that are crumbling because defective concrete blocks were used in their construction spilled onto all main approach roads to Ballina today.

Householders affected by what they describe as “the concrete cancer scandal” joined the peaceful protest at 2 p.m. which went ahead at different strategic locations despite a heavy downpour.

The demonstration was organised by the North Mayo Pyrite Group to highlight their dissatisfaction with the national Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme as it applies to counties Mayo and Donegal.

Pyrite impacted individuals along the western seaboard are entitled to only 90 per cent of the cost of remediation works while those similarly affected on the eastern seaboard are entitled to a full 100 per cent.

“We are being treated as second class citizens,” Clair O’Connor, one of the seven administrators of the North Mayo Pyrite Group told The Connaught Telegraph at one of today’s protests.

According to Ms. O’Connor, the full impact of pyrite – a harmful mineral which degrades building blocks over an extended period resulting in cracked walls and crumbling blockwork – is only now being fully realised in Mayo and other counties.

“More and more defective homes are being identified every day”, she revealed.

“People are queueing to have their homes tested but the tell-tale cracks are there already."

One reason, according to Clair O’Connor, that the present scheme is “unfit for purpose” is a requirement that items such as windows, doors, roof tiles etcetera, are expected to be reused after dismantling and storage.

“I have 17-year-old wooden windows which were not made to be taken out and put in again”, she explained.

Outlining her personal experience, Ms. O’Connor said: “I didn’t know what pyrite was until last December. What I actually thought were settlement cracks were actually the beginning of the decay of my house. It hit me emotionally like a ton of bricks.

“Ours is a group (North Mayo Pyrite Group) that nobody wants to be a member of. It is horrendous. People are getting desperate. Their homes are crumbling before their very eyes."

Another affected householder, Gina, who lives in Foxford, says there is no point in her putting on the heating anymore.

“It (heat) just leaks out through the cracks. I wonder every day if I will find a new crack."

Gina added she cannot understand why all pyrite affected homeowners nationally are not treated equally.

“We bought our houses in good faith. All we want is to be treated like for like."

Today's protest in Ballina attracted several hundred people as did similar protests in Co. Donegal, a county which also has been badly affected by the defective concrete blocks fiasco.